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Jazz Articles | Future
Ronnie Foster: Emotion, Excitement, Energy, and Passion
When it comes to jazz history, few would argue that the years between 1950 and 1970 were a golden era filled with exciting music crossing many stylistic genres. From the concert stage to the Chitlin' Circuit, the era was ripe with talented musicians of all persuasions, many of whom have since faded from memory. Rarely is this due to talent or lack thereof, but more likely a result of many factors including substance abuse, changing trends, and the fickle nature ...
read moreChris Oatts Quintet at Chris’ Jazz Cafe
Chris Oatts Quintet Chris's Jazz Cafe Philadelphia, PA June 23, 2017 Philadelphia keeps churning out great musicians, and one of those who is beginning to generate considerable interest is Chris Oatts. A graduate of Temple University's Boyer College of Music and Dance, he is the son of legendary saxophonist Dick Oatts, but make no mistake about it: Chris Oatts is a force to be reckoned with in his own right, forging his own style and ...
read moreWilliam Parker, Anais Maviel, and Leonid Galaganov at New Revolution Arts Series
William Parker, Anais Maviel, and Leonid Galaganov New Revolution Arts Series Brooklyn, New York April 8, 2017 Sometimes, the underground is also the above-ground. Such is the case on the free improvisation scene in New York City, where one is more likely to see well-known players at a house show or pop-up venue than in a club. In this spirit, Pratt Institute Professor Cisco Bradley has maintained a blog and performance series ...
read moreAlan Broadbent: Developing Story
During the late '70s, now multi-Grammy Award-winning pianist Alan Broadbent, birthed the idea of merging the music of a jazz trio with a full orchestra and strings ..."in a complete phrase for woodwind soli, counterpoint..." in telling a musical story that is still unfolding today. This ongoing musical journey begins with Developing Story as Broadbent and his world-class trio of drummer Peter Erskine and bassist Harvie S, collaborates with the multimedia Hollywood industry London Metropolitan Orchestra (LMO) in presenting one ...
read moreOregon: Lantern
Despite having to replace percussionists a couple of times since its inception in 1970, Oregon's otherwise consistent lineup of reed/woodwind multi-instrumentalist Paul McCandless, guitarist/pianist/primary composer Ralph Towner and double bassist Glen Moore remained unchanged for forty-five years--surely some kind of record in the jazz world. And with current drummer/percussionist Mark Walker joining the group for 1997's Northwest Passage (Intuition), Oregon has, over the last two decades, enjoyed its longest-standing lineup.Until 2015, that is, when it was announced, on ...
read moreDwight Trible: Inspirations (featuring Matthew Halsall)
Having worked with the likes of the Pharoah Sanders Quartet and Kamasi Washington the musical fit between Los Angeles native Dwight Trible and Manchester's Gondwana records should be self- evident. This album was conceived as a combination of joint favourites and spiritual jazz classics chosen by Trible and Gondwana label boss Matthew Halsall, after a couple of chance festival encounters and live guest spots. The band includes not only Halsall's own beautiful trumpet playing, but also several of Halsall's trusted ...
read moreGreg Duncan & The Individuation Quintet: Unification
Jazz musicians derive inspiration from all kinds of sources--but there probably aren't many who are inclined to build an entire series of songs around concepts connected to Jungian psychology. Trumpeter and composer Greg Duncan is quite earnest in this endeavor, however, and on this release he gives musical expression to a number of aspects of Carl Jung's theory of “individuation": the process by which human beings must unify the conscious and subconscious aspects of the self (hence the title of ...
read moreBlues Deluxe 2
The cultural fragmentation of recent decades or so has resulted in such a multiplicity of niche categories that the blues community only benefits by its long-term loyalty to the genre. Yet even the oftentimes arbitrary nature of the categorization(s) can't prevent the cross-pollination of styles. And, reasonably speaking, who wants to argue the dividing lines between country, blues and folk music? Not genuinely devoted music-lovers with an inveterate appetite for the likes of Eric Bibb, Greg Wickham and Steve Krase, ...
read moreSimon Sammut: Crossing
'Crossing' is one of those versatile terms that can be taken many different ways--among other things, it can signify the traversing of a place or boundary, a meeting spot where roads pass each other, or perhaps the act of combining individual things together into a new whole. Simon Sammut means the word in all those senses on his second album. Crossing offers meditative instrumental pieces based on a dozen different concepts, also accompanying each one with a thoughtful background description ...
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